Posted on 08/08/2002 12:16:18 PM PDT by joesnuffy
By Ronald Kotulak Tribune science reporter
August 8, 2002
Fluffy rows of cirrus clouds created by the increasing number of jet contrails can sometimes fill half the sky and may significantly affect ground temperatures, according to a report in Thursday's issue of the British science journal Nature.
Using a unique opportunity to study the effect of contrails on temperature after all commercial planes were grounded for three days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a team of researchers found that clouds spawned by jets lower peak daytime temperatures and raise the lowest nighttime readings.
Such temperature changes could have a profound impact, affecting growing patterns of some major crops and increasing the likelihood of larger insect populations, according to the researchers.
It may also be the clearest indication that human activity can alter the climate.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Seriously, this is more envirowacko tripe. Unless every plane in United's, American's, Northwest's and Delta's inventories were to fly over the same patch of earth continuously, there is no way that half the sky over any patch of earth can possibly be half-filled with contrails.
Funny how they only concentrate on a few crops that might be negatively affected. It seems to me that moderating tempretures would be beneficial to most agriculture.
Translation: a team of student researchers found that on days when the skies are cloudy, there are lower peak daytime temperatures and warmer nighttime temperatures. In other words, they just reinvented the wheel. First error: they assumed that the three days of relatively clear skies were abnormal, which is simply not true. Because they assumed that clear weather is abnormal, they associated the clear days with the abnormal lack of commercial flights. But in all probability, the clear days were simply the result of a normal weather pattern, and the temperature results they obtained were what would be expected for similar weather patterns on any given day.
They could just has easily have claimed that the three days of relatively clear weather was due to intensive TV watching, since for three days after 911 most people stayed home glued to their TVs. The 'researchers' could then claim that if people stop watching TV so much, they will lower daytime temperatures and raise nighttime readings.
It seems to me that this might be one answer to the problem the global warmers have in their algorithms, where daytime temperatures have been stable, but night time temperatures have risen. This against the predictions of their software.
But you know what? WHO CARES! Sure man changes his environment, on small and large scales. Big deal. The weather is just fine, and it will continue to be that way. And if a few animals have to migrate, so what?
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